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I think that 97 percent of users underestimate the power of Semantic MediaWiki. It’s not just a tool that will help you to manage your encyclopedia. In fact using wikis for just encyclopedias or for documentation is just one dumb, staightforward use case.

On SMWCon I’ve desribed how we’ve used SMW for creating standards by the professional communities. The result of their effort is one document – the standard of the professional activity. It describes stuff you have to know, actions you have to perform at job and qualities you have to have in order to be a professional.

In order to produce a good document we have to structure the process of creation. In other words we have to follow specific methodology that ensures that all skills, knowledge and qualities are properly described. The methodology states how to structure the building blocks of the standard and their relations and depencies. Of course we need to develop the other part of the methodology – the social part. It will describe the process of creation itself. Just imagine, to create the standard that describes a manager you have to have various levels of managers – from linear managers to CEO. These guys will desagree with each other and you need to somehow create a document with their consensus.

That’s what Semantic MediaWiki is good for: SUPPORTING COMPLICATED METHODOLOGIES. That’s what my talk is about:

There was a great guy at the conference, Alexander Gesinn. He is in 3% of people that understand what SMW can be used in. And he’s making a business in business process management. What I was amazed about is how he managed to pack it: his semantic::apps is really a tool for BPM, it’s no bloody general-purpose-wiki. It’s a product!!!